KOROLEV (Moscow region), November 26, (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan is going to deploy a group of space satellites, the country's prime minister said Saturday. "We realize that Kazakhstan needs to overcome its technical and technological lag in this sphere which is a serious impediment to the implementation of President Nazarbayev's innovative industrial strategy," Danial Akhmetov said during a visit to the Russian Space Rocket Corporation Energia.
He said he had discussed plans for a new communication satellite, Kazsat-2, to be built by the Russian corporation. The first satellite, Kazsat, is to be launched in late December.
"We would like Kazakhstan to establish its presence in space not only through the Baikonur spaceport. We want to get actively involved in space programs," the Kazakh prime minister said.
He added that Kazakhstan was interested to use satellites for geological surveying and earth remote sensing.
